


Can't Trust a Galra

by SecretlyAnonymous



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Allura's a little bit more racist, Coran's really on the teams side, Don't copy to another site, Keith gets hurt, Shiro's worried about his little brother, The team is a big family, there is one swear word, told from Shiro's perspective
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-26
Updated: 2018-12-26
Packaged: 2019-09-27 22:41:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,936
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17170820
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SecretlyAnonymous/pseuds/SecretlyAnonymous
Summary: Shiro took a deep breath. Thought. There were two types of amnesia: retrograde, and anterograde. Retrograde was forgetting the past, anterograde was loss of ability to make memories. Shiro tried not to remember the movies – “Who am I?” – “Where am I?” – “Who are you?”That’s not how it worked.But the thought of Keith not remembering Voltron, not remembering their family, not remembering him.--Okay. That was good. “You’re only missing the day that this occurred,” Shiro told Keith. “Do you want to know what happened?”Keith nodded.“We went to Abrange for peace negotiation. Somehow, they found out you’re half galra.”Keith hunched over.--Keith hissed. “Naturally. Can’t trust a galra.”Shiro winced, and noticed the other three doing the same. Keith narrowed his eyes. “What? What is it?”





	Can't Trust a Galra

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Hurt/Comfort Prompt Challenge](https://archiveofourown.org/works/16547117) by [SilenceIsGolden15](https://archiveofourown.org/users/SilenceIsGolden15/pseuds/SilenceIsGolden15). 



> The tag ["don't copy to another site"](https://evilwriter37.tumblr.com/post/187593611275/ao3s-users-alert-unauthorised-fanworks-copying)

Keith stood in the healing pod. Multiple puncture wounds, surrounded by dark bruises, disappeared before his eyes. Shiro knew the real damage was invisible. The tazer-like device had struck him multiple times, beyond the gaze of his teammates. They hadn’t known he’d been hurt until he collapsed, coughing savagely, spitting blood, before seizing. The poison, designed to shut down galra organs quickly and quietly, had reacted violently with Keith’s human biology. A blessing in disguise. Him, Hunk, and Lance got Keith to a healing pod before he died. Allura stayed behind to wrap things up and cut the alliance off. Pidge was on her own adventure, exploring the technology the planet possessed. Shiro didn’t know if she knew what had happened.

The doors slid open as the last bruise (a particularly dark one on Keith’s right wrist, injected right into his vein) faded. Allura entered.

“How did it go?”

“Well,” Allura responded, “They have agreed to end all negotiations. We will, of course, return to aid them if they need it, but there will be not contact otherwise.”

Shiro nodded, glancing down Allura. She seemed to be in good health. Not poisoned.

Allura began to bring something from behind her back, but stopped.

“Shiro, I would like you to take this into consideration.”

She pulled the device out from behind her back. Now that he got a prolonged look at it, it had four nodes. The needle was situated in the middle.

“It numbs the injection site. Keith couldn’t even feel it.”

Shiro nodded. “I’ll see if anyone knows how to make an antidote or vaccine or something to keep this from happening again.”

Allura hesitated again. “That’s not exactly what I meant.”

Narrowed eyes. A curl of nausea. “What do you mean?” Shiro asked cautiously.

The door whooshed open behind Allura. She didn’t seem to hear it over her anxiousness. Pidge entered the room, stopping after only two steps. She glanced between Shiro and Allura.

“I want you to consider using this when Keith exits the healing pod.”

Shiro considered his options. Looked at Pidge directly in the eyes. Said, “You want to kill Keith.”

Allura nodded. Her hair jostled and by the widening of Pidge’s eyes, he knew she’d seen Allura’s affirmation.

“We absolutely will not. Where is there any logic in that choice?”

Her tone went from diplomatic to enraged. Her eyes glimmered. “He is Galra, Shiro. Evil. They all are.”

“Galra doesn’t equate to evil. Race does not define a person.”

“It does for the Galra, Shiro. They’re all evil. They took my people. My planet. Why don’t you see that?”

“The Galra Empire took my arm. My mind. My health, my love, my sanity. The galra race did not do that. The empire did. Why can’t _you_ see _that?”_

Allura raised her head. “They are one and the same. And regardless of your feelings on the matter, I will be using this should I feel the need.”

Red. “ _You will not!”_ he shouted, swinging at her.

Allura ducked under his fist and backed away. Shiro kept going until hands pulled him away.

Shiro clenched his fists – tried not to imagine them around Allura’s throat.

Allura glared at him, carefully guarding the device.

 _“Give it to me_.” He hissed.

“No.” She said.

“What’s going on?” Lance asked.

Pidge responded. “She wants to kill Keith.”

Shiro heard several intakes of breath.

“You cannot and will not stop me. Keith will not be receiving any treatment.”

The hands (Coran’s, he thought absently) holding Shiro back loosened. In an instant, his hand was at her neck. He ripped the device out of her hands, crushed it under his heel, and backed off.

“You no longer have jurisdiction over me or the paladins.” He said. Pidge, Hunk, and Lance were huddled around Keith’s pod. Coran stood between him and the princess. “This is unforgivable. Coran?”

Coran hesitated. Hung his head. “I am oath-bound to support the princess.”

Shiro nodded. “Dismissed.”

The cadets straightened. Coran saluted. Half a step back, about face, straight to the door. Shiro assumed he’d picked up the knowledge from the few times the paladins did the same.

Allura’s face contorted. “I do not take orders from you.”

Coran grabbed her arm and encouraged her to leave. “Come on, it’s time to leave.”

Allura hissed at him. “You’ve already ruined this much. Don’t make it worse.” Coran retorted. Allura followed him out of the room.

Shiro relaxed.

“Pidge, you have sanitized containers, correct?”

Pidge nodded.

“Go get one please. And something to suck liquid up. We need to find a way to prevent the poison from working again.”

Pidge snapped to attention and repeated the procedure Coran had done. She ran out and came back with a vial two minutes later.

“It’s a little contaminated with particles from the floor, but that shouldn’t hinder testing too much.” She reported.

Shiro took it from her and pocketed it. “Thank you. You can relax now.”

Lance and Hunk relaxed from their parade rest too.

“What’s happening?” Lance asked.

Shiro sighed. “Allura brought back the thing they used to do this to Keith with the intention of using on him again – this time without any medical attention.”

Pidge bit her lip. “What did they do to Keith?”

Shiro explained the device.

“So… what now?” Hunk asked. “I don’t know if you noticed, but we kind of need Allura. She’s the only one who can control the castle.”

“She can still power the castle. Coran can do anything else. We’ll make it work.”

“But Coran…”

“He doesn’t want to support Allura. I’ve seen her use some powerful magic, and she hasn’t even been trained in magic. His oath is probably magically binding. Besides, he can rebel in small ways. He just did; he let me go.”

“That makes sense. He also…” Lance bit his lip in thought, “Allura’s the only one he has left. He probably finds it difficult to hate her. I trust him.”

“Yeah,” Hunk muttered. “Even so, I don’t feel right leaving Keith alone right now.”

Shiro smiled. “We can have a stakeout tonight. Or until Keith wakes up. Who wants to go get pillows and blankets?”

Lance and Hunk volunteered. Shiro sat at the base of the step. Pidge sat herself next to him.

“Will Keith be okay?”

Shiro nodded. “Coran said he might have some brain damage. The poison should have affected his temporal lobe first. He might have amnesia. But the seizures… I don’t know exactly how they affect the brain, but he was seizing for over five minutes. I’m pretty sure that’s a big deal.”

“You think he might be worse than Coran says.”

Shiro nodded. “He could also have trouble with languages, hearing impairment, or just forget the sequence of events. I hope he’s completely fine, but, if it has to be something, I hope it’s the last one, because I’m pretty sure he could just keep a diary or journal or something.”

Pidge nodded. The door opened and three figures covered in blankets entered. They revealed Lance, Hunk and Coran.

Coran smiled. “I’m working on Allura.” He tossed a look at Keith’s pod. “I hope Keith’s okay.”

Shiro nodded. Coran gave him a small smile and left the room.

Ten minutes later, the pillows and blankets were arranged, and the four of them were huddled in a little nest. Lance threw himself on top of Hunk, and Pidge threw herself on top of Shiro and they all fell asleep in contact with each other.

Shiro woke to Coran poking his cheek. The man was squatting over their heads. “Allura wishes to check on Keith. I figure you want to up for this.”

Shiro blinked. Moved Pidge and Lance off of him. Allura was already fiddling with the settings on Keith’s pod.

“Princess, I would appreciate it if you wouldn’t.”

Allura looked over her shoulder at him and backed off.

“Coran, did she mess with anything?”

Coran checked the screen. “It appears she was just checking on Keith’s progress.”

Shiro nodded. “How is he?”

“He appears to be making a full recovery, although we won’t know how the damage to his temporal lobe will affect him yet. He’ll be ready to come out later today.”

Shiro nodded. “Can we rule out any lasting effects yet?”

“It appears that we can rule out everything except for amnesia. I think it’s time to assume that he may have some memory loss, Shiro.”

Shiro took a deep breath. Thought. There were two types of amnesia: retrograde, and anterograde. Retrograde was forgetting the past, anterograde was loss of ability to make memories. Shiro tried not to remember the movies – “Who am I?” – “Where am I?” – “Who are you?”

That’s not how it worked.

But the thought of Keith not remembering Voltron, not remembering their family, not remembering him.

Shiro dismissed Coran and Allura. He curled back up next to Hunk. He didn’t move for hours. The others didn’t wake up.

The pod hissed. Shiro vaulted up, Lance and Pidge waking with a cry as they were dislodged, waking Hunk in the process.

“Keith, you’re okay!” Lance shouted. Shiro lowered Keith to the floor. Pidge immediately set upon him, grabbing his face and studying him. “Are you okay?”

Keith nodded, looking confused. Shiro shushed the others. “Keith? What’s the last thing you remember?”

Keith bit his lip. “I went to bed after Lance dragged me away from training.”

Shiro sent a look to Lance. “That was the day before all of,” he waved his hands to everything, “ _this_.”

Okay. That was good. “You’re only missing the day that this occurred,” Shiro told Keith. “Do you want to know what happened?”

Keith nodded.

“We went to Abrange for peace negotiation. Somehow, they found out you’re half galra.”

Keith hunched over.

“Apparently, they’ve developed this tech and poison that would kill a galra with no warning. During the peace dinner, you were injected several times. The tech made you numb, so no one suspected anything. We think the servants must have done it as they were passing you. Then, halfway through the dinner, you started coughing up blood. Then you threw up, then had a seizure that didn’t stop until we got you in the healing pod.”

Keith hissed. “Naturally. Can’t trust a _galra._ ”

Shiro winced, and noticed the other three doing the same. Keith narrowed his eyes. “What? What is it?”

“Allura stayed behind the end negotiations and came back with one of the devices.” Shiro took a steadying breath. “She then suggested we use it on you when you exited the pod.”

Keith flinched violently. “Oh.”

Fuck. Keith was going to have a panic attack if he wasn’t halfway there already.

“Guys, back up. Keith, I need you to breathe. We won’t let Allura hurt you. You’re safe. Breathe.”

Keith calmed down a little. “She controls the whole castle. How can you…?”

“Can I touch you?”

Keith nodded, and Shiro set his arm on Keith’s shoulder.

“We’ll keep an eye on you and her at all times until we have foolproof way to keep her away from you. Someone can sleep with you, or, if you prefer, you can sleep in Red. She has a little room that you could sleep in.”

Keith bit his lip and nodded. Pidge hesitantly crawled closer. “We’ll throw her out the airlock before she touches you.”

Keith smiled at her and opened his arms. Pidge launched herself into her hug. Lance and Hunk followed.

Keith’s smiled over the top of Pidge’s head at Shiro. Shiro smiled back.

He dreaded the future, but Keith was okay. That’s what mattered.

**Author's Note:**

> I tried out slightly new writing style. Tell me if you like it! And any other thoughts you have! Also, the inspiration for this came from Chapter 7 of the work listed as inspiration.


End file.
